Evolution of Self
by Spinestalker
Summary: Breaking up is always hard to do, especially for Roxas. When two people break up, it means the end to a relationship. Apparently, Axel didn’t get the memo. Akuroku AU


Evolution of the Self

By: Slytherinette

Disclaimer: Not mine

Rating: PG, tops

Summary: Breaking up is always hard to do, especially for Roxas. When two people break up, it means the end to a relationship. Apparently, Axel didn't get the memo.

A very short thing I wrote a while ago that I found. I doubt I'll do anything with it, but I think it's a pretty good read anyways.

--

Roxas was pointedly ignoring the vibrating in his backpack as he turned the page in the Disney Kingdom History book he should have been studying. The librarian looked over at him in irritation but just shook her head and looked back to what ever was on her desk. Less then two minutes later, there was another, and Roxas turned the page. Sora sighed deeply in annoyance before reaching over to ruffle though his brother's old beaten up backpack to retrieve the offending cell phone. He was about to flip it open when Roxas reached up and tried to jerk it from Sora's hand. "Don't answer it!"

"Rox, you can't avoid him forever," Sora said simply, not letting the cell phone go so easily, but allowed Roxas's hand to clasp over it to keep it closed.

"Watch me."

The twins stared at each other for a long ten seconds; the other occupants of their study group all looked up to watch the exchange awkwardly. The phone vibrated again and Sora heaved another sigh and let go, allowing Roxas to take possession of the phone. Roxas instantly clicked he ignore button then turned the contraption off and threw it on the table with so much force Tidus, who was sitting across from him, winced, half expecting it to fly up and hit him. Instead, it just slid into his book.

"You are acting childish about this." The words were ironic coming from Sora. "You should just talk to him. You broke up with him, the least you can do is give him a better excuse than that you just don't think it'll work out."

"It won't, and it's a perfectly good reason."

"How's that a good reason?" This time it was Riku who spoke up. He got a dangerous look from Roxas. Roxas didn't exactly like Riku so speaking up against a personal decision he had made was very risky. Riku ducked a little under the glare. He was only trying to side with Sora in hopes to score points with the brunet twin of whom he was madly in love with.

"It seems like a logical reason to me." Tidus spoke up. Riku shot Tidus a hateful look. Both boys were notoriously chasing after Sora and it was clearly a strategic move to side with Roxas, who also didn't like Tidus, but Roxas was the reason that Sora was straddling the fence on Tidus or Riku.

_Smart move, Tidus, you have some brains in that jock head of yours after all._

Riku started again, a bit more confident now that he was speaking directly at Tidus, "He's been dating him for almost two years now. 'It's just not going to work out' is rather weak." He used his usual tone when talking to Tidus, that _I am so much smarter then you, you should listen to me _tone. Tidus never took it well and his lip curled in distaste.

_Dear god_, Roxas thought_, this is better than pay-per-view!_ Move over Schmeling and Louis; Riku and Tidus were far more entertaining.

"If it's not gonna work out," Tidus said clearly, as though he were talking to a child. "It's not gonna work out. Some people, even if they have known each other for a long time, just can't work through the fact they are incompatible."

"No," Riku growled though his teeth, still using his snotty tone, "BECAUSE they have known each other for a long time, they can work through any problems that arise."

"They aren't even talking about Axel and Roxas any more," came a soft voice from beside Sora. Kairi, who was sitting next to her, nodded in agreement.

"Sometimes things won't work out, Riku. You can make something out of nothing!"

"But he hasn't even tried! Saying it's not going to work out when he hasn't even tried is a stupid!" Riku slammed his hand down on the table and stood up, glaring at Tidus with all his anger. Oh, last week of school and they were gonna get suspended, it was brilliant. Roxas couldn't have planned it better!

Tidus mimicked him, standing up, eye to eye and nose to nose with Riku, not backing down. Tidus was more athletic then Riku and Roxas would have bet on him in a fight, but Riku as no pushover and he still hoped he would get a few good punches in, make sure they both walked away bloody.

"Well, you're stupid, yourself, Riku." Tidus had a hand fisted and it looked ready to implant into Riku's face. Riku was braced and ready to attack, unwilling to back down. It was nasty of Roxas but he didn't bother fighting the grin on his face.

"Hey!" the librarian's voice rang out and the little old lady scrambled out from behind her desk to place herself between the two juniors that towered over her. "Both of you go to the office, right now!" Both boys glared at each other with all the rage of hell before Tidus turned first, jerking his backpack onto his shoulder and grabbed his book, stomping out of the library. It was a second of hesitation before Riku did the same.

Roxas continued to smile, watching this with much delight. It was the small things that made life worth living.

"I'm glad you find this funny," Sora snapped at him and slammed his book closed with a loud thump. He stood up, violently shoving his chair back and grabbed his bag, storming off.

Roxas lifted his eyebrow and watched him leave then looked at Kairi and Naminé, who both looked a little upset.

"Just because you suck at relationships doesn't mean you should drag Sora down with you." With that, Kairi stood up and followed after Sora. Naminé just shook her head before standing up as well.

"I'll see you in class, good luck on your history final."

Roxas heaved a sigh and frowned at the now empty table. Good. He had come here to study alone in the first place, but Sora had followed, and his two pathetic puppies had followed, then the girls had joined them. He was alone, finally, and could study in peace.

To bad now he felt like shit.

He gave his phone a glance before forcing his eyes on his book. He had no idea what page he was on, as he hadn't been reading anything since his phone started ringing. He flipped back several pages to pick up where he was, something about the fall of the evil Queen, and tried to read. The test was next period and history, while it had never been hard, was still a class he had to pass.

"Hey, Roxas," he looked up, a little surprised to see Selphie standing there. He really didn't want to see her. She was Axel's cousin and next-door neighbor. If she was here, it had something to do with Axel. "Um... Axel is outside in the parking lot and says he won't leave unless you come and talk to him. If he doesn't leave he's gonna get in trouble."

Roxas sighed, running his hands though his hair. "Go tell him I don't want to talk to him." He looked pointedly at a picture of the Queen, refusing to look at Selphie.

"Go tell him yourself," she said in a biting tone. "It's not fair to him. I don't know why you broke up with him, but he is really taking it hard. He keeps texting me and asking me to talk to you. I told him to talk to you himself, and so he drove to school and is now waiting outside." Roxas crossed his arms and she sighed. "If the principle catches him he'll call the police. Axel graduated last week so he isn't aloud on campus anymore and I'm sure the Mr. Xehanort would just love an excuse to call the cops and have Axel escorted away."

He looked at his book a moment longer before nodding and snapping it closed. He shoved it into his bag and grabbed his phone before heading to the door.

Axel was leaning against his black car, arms crossed and looking pissy. He was kicking the ground with the toe of his shoe. When he saw Roxas, he straightened up and shoved his hands nervously in his paints pocket. Roxas stopped nearly 10 feet away from him, pointedly not moving forward.

"What do you want?"

He snorted. "I thought that was pretty obvious." Roxas fought the urge to roll his eyes and just stared at him, face straight. When Roxas didn't reply Axel looked down again. "Roxie... Roxas." he corrected, knowing Roxas hated that name. "Look, this is stupid!" he threw his arms up in the air and Roxas only gave him his usual blank look. "Roxas, please…" he moved forward, "please don't do this to me."

Roxas shook his head, looking away. Axel looked desperate and it made his chest ache. His eyes were burning and he refused to cry, he would not cry! Goddamn Axel! "Please, don't do this to me Axel. We talked about this Thursday."

"Roxas... Roxas!" Axel moved closer, standing so close Roxas could smell him; God Roxas loved how Axel smelled. "Look at me." Axel lifted his hand and ran it though Roxas's hair, grabbing it and gently forced their eyes to meet. "Roxas, I need you! I need you like I need air, you are everything to me."

"This isn't about us, Axel. This is something far bigger then than that, something much more important to me. You have the chance of a life time. You have the opportunity to get out of this godforsaken town, away from your fucked up family, to go to the best Goddamn art school in the fucking country! I am not going to let you pass this up just because you want to wait for me to graduate!"

Axel looked truly pathetic, his eyes were rimed with red, and it broke every last broken piece of Roxas's heart. He had seen Axel beaten by his father, ignored and cussed by his mother, his name dragged though the mud more then once, but he had never seen Axel this torn up. Knowing that Roxas was the direct cause of it killed him. He dropped his hand, running it though his unmanaged hair in frustration, shaking his head.

"Fuck. All of that I did for you, goddamn it. You are the one that made me work harder in school, you are the one that made me graduate! I cleaned up because you wanted me to! I did all that shit to make you happy! I applied to that fucking school because you told me to! I didn't even think I would get in! I can't even smoke a fucking cigarette because you made me stop! All of it was because of you! I can't... I can't do... go... I can't live without you!" He spun, kicking his car hard enough to make a dint in the door.

"I didn't do anything, Axel. You are the one that did all that stuff. When you graduated last week, when they handed you that diploma, it was because you have worked your ass off for it. You got into art school because your work kicks ass."

"But I did it all FOR you," he sighed pathetically, leaning against his car again, "without you there is no fucking reason for me to even bother going at all."

"No, Axel…" he stepped forward, fisting his hands to his sides to keep from reaching out. "No..." he sighed, "You have to go. You HAVE to go for YOU." Axel looked at him, his face unreadable. "You could be something," he continued, "Really be something and you can tell this fucking town off. Every one who called you a loser, everyone who said you are trash, everyone who told me that my boyfriend was a fucked up loser who would turn into just another Chakram trash. Become something better than this town and tell them all to shove it."

"I need you..." Axel breathed, leaning forward to press his forehead on Roxas's. Roxas gave in, the pain in his chest to much to fight, and reached up to stroke his cheeks, thumbs running over the triangles on his face.

"You need me like you need to be chained to this town, and that is all I'm doing."

"I don't want to leave you." Axel lifted his hands, placing them on Roxas's hips, thumbs slipping under his shirt to stroke bare skin. It wasn't a sexual action, but an intimate one. Roxas was silent in response, but stepped forward, allowing more contact. He wrapped his arms around his neck and Axel snaked his around Roxas's lower back. They buried their faces in each other's necks and just held to each other. Roxas realized how incredibly cruel he was being. He was all Axel had had for the longest of time. He was the stability and emotional support that no one else had ever given him. They stood there for a long time, neither saying anything. At some point, the class bell rang to end study hall but Roxas didn't move.

"Axel… I want you to go to this school. You can't pass up this opportunity. There is no guarantee that they will let you in if you reapply next year."

"I don't want to leave…"

"And I don't want you too either, but this is for the best." He looked up at Axel. "Look, I want you to go, and I want you to kick ass at this school. In a year, I'll join you. I'll go to Hollow Bastion or something."

"You don't want to go to HBU, you always wanted to go to Twilight Town… You always have."

He shrugged, "I'm sure HBU has a decent engineering program."

"Roxas-"

"Look, we got a year think about this," Roxas interrupted any arguments. "You are gonna go to this school. We will figure out what to do next."

Axel was silent, looking down. They stood like that for a long time before He lifted his hands, running them lovingly though Roxas's messy hair. "So, does this mean we're not broken up?"

Roxas leaned his head forward, resting it on Axel's chest. "Yeah, as long as you go to school."

Axel groaned, "Fine, fine." He wrapped his arms around Roxas's shoulders possessively. "Are you late for class?"

"Very."

"Final?"

"Yeah."

"See you after school?" Roxas nodded his reply, but still didn't move to leave. After a minute, Axel spoke again. "Roxas, you know, I... I mean… I…" Roxas pulled back, looking up at him. Axel looked at a loss for words, but Roxas knew what he wanted to say.

"I love you too, Axel."

Axel looked down at him, his face torn with emotions that Roxas couldn't identify before it settled on a smile then leaned down, pressing their lips together in what was meant to be a chaste kiss, but quickly transformed into something seeking and desperate. Axel moaned, bending down farther and Roxas stretched up, allowing the kiss to deepen, but was forced to pull away, both of them licking his lips with regret.

"I'm really late for class."

Axel nodded, letting go. "I'll see you after school. You have a lot to make up for." He poked Roxas's nose and Roxas smirked.

"Okay," he nodded before turning to head back into the building.


End file.
